Sep. 22Nd.2013 : God S Generosity and Abundance in Everything
Sep. 22nd.2013 : God`s Generosity and Abundance in Everything
Ps. 19:1-6; Mtt. 6:25-33
Have you ever thought, `Isn`t it amazing that not all birds are sparrows?` God could have been so pleased that he`d thought of birds, and insects, and fish, and snakes and animals and…(!).. that just one kind of each would have been quite enough to make the earth wonderful! But no, our Creator God was in bountiful mode and went on to go quite wild in his extravagance…`Let the earth bring forth abundantly!.... 900,000 species of insects; 34,000 different spiders; 28,000 kinds of fish; 10,000 of birds. 4-6,000 species of animals… have I lost you in numbers? – oh good! … God`s generosity. His abundant giving to the earth. All these creatures, and I haven`t even started on the plants! But how extraordinary!
And God puts mankind on the earth to enjoy what he has created. We got to name things, and discover about them. We are still getting to do that. New species turning up all the time. New marvels to wonder at… Did you get to watch Stargazing Live on TV?… here`s Irish comic Dara O Briain….
Asked, as a teenager, to take out the rubbish one night, he says, ”As soon as I stepped out of the front door that night, I looked up, and saw the Plough for the first time and thought 'Wow! That's incredible!' Then when I saw it again on holiday, I thought, 'There it is again!' I realised the Plough was everpresent. I got this astonishing sense of its eternity. I was immediately hooked." One of the great universal sources of wonder is just to tilt your head back and gawp at this incredible show unfolding above you.”.`
Our amazing universe, zillions and zillions of stars, vast, immeasurable, infinite in space… we can only wonder, in awe. What a God!
Some animals eat grass. Only grass. God could have thought, “Human beings, ah yes…. cauliflowers will do nicely for them. They won`t need anything else…”. however….he gave us the capacity, the taste buds to enjoy… fruit, meat, plants, fish, cheese, bread…. a nice, fruity red wine… poppadoms…tasty chilies…sausages…nut roast… the list goes on, and on, and on….
It just seems like God just cannot help himself! He is a Giving God.
And why? Because he loves. In the words of John Oxenham…
“Love ever
gives, forgives, outlives,
and ever stands
with open hands,
for while it lives, it gives.
For this is love's prerogative—
to give, and give,
and give."
…God`s generosity. lHe doesn`t want us to lack anything. We read, `If God so clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith``. …Seek first the kingdom of righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well.` And last week Peter spoke of God`s promise to give good gifts when we ask, and not a stone instead of bread…. But just sometimes, I wonder if you feel like what God is giving is a stone?
Perhaps, you have heard recently someone say, `God is so good, he has really blessed me this week… and then has followed the story of a really lovely thing that has happened, that the person has been given? Maybe you have said this yourself? Nothing wrong with this, at all! But I can`t help thinking that it might leave hanging in the air `that if good things have not happened, then, God is not good?!` Not generous? I know that I have sometimes found myself thinking, `I`ve really prayed for this – good - thing, and God does not appear to be giving here at all! And it is such a good thing I am asking for….absolutely in line with his purposes. I`m asking for bread here God! Instead, sometimes the opposite has happened. It has felt like I am getting a stone. If this is your experience - maybe it seems to be happening now? - and if you are like me, you might be agonizing, and wondering where God`s generosity has gone?! I don`t have all the answers – of course I haven`t - but I want to bring in a man called Dave Bookless here – because he has something for us to think about.
Dave and his wife were founders of Arocha, the Christian Ecology organization. We had a speaker here from Arocha a few years ago – remember? Anyway, one of his books is called, `God doesn`t do Waste`. In it he describes the time God challenged him with the words, `How do you think I feel about what you are doing to my world?` And he tells the story of Arocha and God`s guidance to be involved in environmental protection and redemption. But he also tells another story – his family story, which encompasses a whole catalogue of adverse events and circumstances, including five consecutive miscarriages, a death at birth, and Anne, his wife, very seriously incapacitated with ME. But, `after a rollercoaster of emotions, and wrestling,` he says, `with how a good, generous God can allow such suffering`, he says this….
…..”God does not cause suffering, but he can use it. If we turn to him in our pain, and offer our suffering to him, he is able to take it – to take us – and to transform us. None of life`s experiences, however brutalizing and crushing, however meaningless and random they may seem, need be wasted in God`s plans. God can recycle lost and broken people into new creations in Christ. God can also transform our most painful experiences into the labour pains of new life and new hope”.
The apostle Peter`s 1st letter to Christians, who were not actually having a lovely life rejoicing in happy, peaceful lives, but were, in fact, undergoing fierce persecution,` scattered as strangers in the world`, says this,` God`s divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him, who called us by his own glory and goodness…`everything we need`, my goodness. That can take a bit of working out! May God help those of us who are particularly finding it difficult to rejoice in God`s generosity and goodness at present, to find that in their God, his sufficiency will meet what they most need just now.
I have recently been `soaking myself` in Paul`s letter to the Colossians…. I find it extraordinary in its practical application of life-giving theology. `Set your minds on things, above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is no hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory`. My life is hidden with Christ…Christ is my life… ….God has been challenging me recently with some hard questions, about how life is to be lived. What does `Christ is my life` mean, when…. I find myself hassling the driver in front of me when they are going `too slowly`? When I find too quick a retort on my lips in answer to a frustration? When I am trying to get to sleep and my head is buzzing with … all sorts? When the Giving pack from church arrives on my doorstep, asking me to review my giving? `Christ is my life`… I believe it… but how do I work this out in my personal life; my church life? ……
…………….How seriously do I take Christ`s commands upon my life? I don`t know about you but I find Giving – of all kinds; time, practical caring; money, can sometimes be quite a challenge! I am not, sometimes, the `cheerful giver` that God loves! Could it be that I am sometimes like the person in the short poem by Steve Turner…
….`The Lord says, “Share your bread with the hungry, bring the homeless poor into your house, cover the naked.” “Dear Lord God, We have got new carpets, so this will not be possible.” . ….
…. `Christ is my life`, and requires that I attend carefully to my priorities. In the excellent Diocese study series sharing with the country of Sudan, `Jesus through other eyes`, there is this testimony from a visitor to that country…
“I thought I was well informed about poverty. I`d heard reports and seen the pictures, but to encounter it was another thing. I couldn`t get my mind round the fact that people live with so little; no kitchen, no bedroom, no bathroom, and no running water. I was shaken. I`d known about this but somehow hadn`t understood the reality – and in Sudan even what you have is sometimes brutally taken away. And staggeringly, these very people, who have so little, hurried to bring me water and food”.
….. Generosity seems to run through their veins, like their very lifeblood. And it comes from an intimate relationship with their God whose very nature is Gift…. Ro. Ch. 8:32: `He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all - `how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?` And, Eph. 1:8, `In him we have the redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God`s grace which he has lavished upon us`.
This morning, our Generous God stands before us… with open hands….
- He offers his love, will you receive it?
- He offers his welcome and forgiveness, will you feel it?
- He offers his hope for a secure future, will you believe it?
- He offers his presence to go with us, will you trust it?
Amen.
__Sylvia Walker______